Abstract
Calumma vatosoa is a Malagasy chameleon species that has until now been known only from the male holotype and a photograph of an additional male specimen. In this paper we describe females of the chameleon Calumma vatosoa for the first time, as well as the skull osteology of this species. The analysed females were collected many years before the description of C. vatosoa, and were originally described as female C. linotum. According to external morphology, osteology, and distribution these specimens are assigned to C. vatosoa. Furthermore we discuss the species group assignment of C. vatosoa and transfer it from the C. furcifer group to the C. nasutum group. A comparison of the external morphology of species of both groups revealed that C. vatosoa has a relatively shorter distance from the anterior margin of the orbit to the snout tip, more heterogeneous scalation at the lower arm, a significantly lower number of supralabial and infralabial scales, and a relatively longer tail than the members of the C. furcifer group. These characters are, however, in line with the species of the C. nasutum group. In addition the systematic position of C. peyrierasi also discussed, based on its morphology.
Highlights
Madagascar is a hotspot of chameleon diversity and endemism (Tolley et al 2013)
On the basis of external morphology, osteology, and distribution we assign the specimens, which were collected by Bluntschli, to C. vatosoa instead of C. linotum, and provide the first description of females of this species
Andreone et al (2001) tentatively assigned C. vatosoa to the C. furcifer group; after comparing the morphology and osteology of the investigated females and the holotype of C. vatosoa to all other species of the C. furcifer group, we demonstrate that the analysed characters of C. vatosoa are more typical of the C. nasutum group (Table 1) except for the absence of a rostral appendage and the presence of axillary pits
Summary
Of the currently described 202 chameleon species, 86 species belong to the four Malagasy genera Brookesia Gray, 1865, Calumma Gray, 1865, Furcifer Fitzinger, 1843, and Palleon Glaw, Hawlitschek & Ruthensteiner, 2013, and all but two Comorian species of Furcifer are endemic to Madagascar (Glaw 2015). G. Raxworthy and Nussbaum 2006, Gehring et al 2010, Gehring et al 2011, Glaw et al 2012), and several species are only known by a single or a few specimens. Within the genus Calumma, currently comprising 33 species (Glaw 2015), C. hafahafa Raxworthy & Nussbaum, 2006, C. linotum (Müller, 1924), C. peyrierasi (Brygoo, Blanc & Domergue, 1974), and C. vatosoa Andreone, Mattioli, Jesu & Randrianirina, 2001 are such poorly known species.
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